


Wind charmer

by colorcoded



Category: Soul Calibur
Genre: F/F, Fighting style study, Press Start treat, Very mildly shippy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:01:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26396812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/colorcoded/pseuds/colorcoded
Summary: Fleshing out some of Talim and Seong Mi-na's interactions when they traveled together in Soulcalibur IV.
Relationships: Seong Mi-na/Talim
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14
Collections: Press Start VI





	Wind charmer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [echoslam](https://archiveofourown.org/users/echoslam/gifts).



> I've wanted to write Mi-na/Talim for a while, so when I saw Mi-na on the list of potential love interests, I thought I'd take a crack at it.

Mi-na hefted the heavy polearm onto her shoulder and set off walking, leaving the four bandits lying in a muddy ditch behind her.

"Is it just me or are we getting attacked twice as often ever since Yun-seong left?" she asked her companion.

"It seems they think the two of us are easy marks," Talim replied with a somber shake of her head. "I did try to warn them we would defend ourselves..."

That she had. Poor girl—her warnings had fallen on deaf ears, and she'd been forced to punch one of the brigands in his solar plexus with the butt of her tonfa because he'd insisted on trying to grab her arm. (Incredibly, she'd apologized to him immediately afterward.)

"Yeah, well, that's what they get for not believing you." Mi-na turned and shouted at the now-unconscious thieves, "Underestimate us, will you?!"

It was a shame that these kinds of attacks were so frequent. If Mi-na and Talim could find a more peaceful thoroughfare, they might be able to rest somewhere long enough to get in some training. As it was, it didn't seem wise to stay in any place for very long, nor to purposely tire themselves out and leave them more open to threats. But Mi-na was still itching for a friendly bout against the younger girl to study her fighting style in more detail than these short-lived dust-ups allowed. Their first and only duel had resulted in Mi-na losing, but she had been caught off guard by the unfamiliar movements, that was all. Once she understood Talim's fighting style better, she was sure she'd easily get the upper hand.

Lacking the ability to get in a training session, though, Mi-na would have to do her best to glean what she could from conversation, which was a good way to pass the time as they walked, anyway.

"Talim, how long have you been training in your martial art?"

"The wind dance? I suppose since I was old enough to walk. I remember going through stances and movements when I was four. Not very skillfully, I am sure," she said with a bashful smile.

Mi-na seized on the opening to learn more. "Is that so? How did you get better at the wind dance? I mean, what would you say separates a good student from an average student?"

"Oh, that's easy—a good student can read the wind, can really feel what it's telling her. It's important to learn the movements, but when you're listening to the wind, when you do it right, the motions are instinctual."

"Listening to the wind?" Mi-na cocked her head to the side. "What does that mean? How do you do that?"

Talim closed her eyes. "Hm... it's hard to describe. The wind tells you many things—it tells you about movement, intention, smell, who has the advantage in a fight. It tells you so many things all the time that you don't have time to make sense of it all. You have to be good at 'reading' it, understanding what it's trying to tell you. If you do it well, the right action at the right time will come to you."

"Hm..." Mi-na crossed her arms, tucking the shaft of her woldo under her armpit. She supposed that made sense. It sounded like that way of fighting would require paying close attention to senses like touch and smell, whereas Mi-na mainly relied on her sight. It sounded like an interesting way of fighting, although not the sort of thing that Mi-na would likely be able to pick up or put to use in her own style. "What about the movements? What kind of movements are core to the fighting style?"

Talim frowned, tugging at a lock of her hair. "The wind dance isn't a fighting style, exactly," she corrected. "It's a dance."

That may be true, but it was practiced with sharp blades and it was clear that it could be used as a deadly martial art—and Talim was no novice at using it that way.

"So," Talim continued, "I guess the things that are important are rhythm, footwork, pleasing circular motions..." She demonstrated by turning her elbow blade in one hand, and then doing it again as she also moved her forearm in a loop. The fast-spinning bright metal contrasted with the dark twilit landscape of dirt and grass behind, leaving an arc of white circle in its wake, and circles within circles. "It's important to practice leaps and tumbles as well."

Mi-na nodded, fascinated. She would have to pay more attention to Talim's footwork next time, to the way the fighting style resembled dancing. "And I take it you're the most skilled at the wind dance in your village?" Mi-na asked.

"Ah, w-well, I try my best to practice every day, and my grandmother often tells me I have a very strong connection to the wind..."

Mi-na snickered. "You're a modest one, aren't you? I bet you are the strongest."

Talim flushed. "I... I just don't like comparing myself to others..."

"That's all right. It's a refreshing change of pace from Yun-seong, at least. Does everyone in your village learn the wind dance?"

To Mi-na's surprise, the question made Talim's pace slow until she came to a stop in the middle of the road. She folded her arms over her elbow blades and looked down at them morosely. Mi-na had seen Talim express worry at what she described as "bad winds" and had seen her look remorseful when she had to fight and ended up injuring her opponent. But this seemed something different entirely.

"Nanay says that was the way it was before, but... I am actually the youngest in the village to have been taught it. We worship the wind, and the wind dance is how we do that, but now people are saying that it's blasphemous. So it was decided I would be the last."

Mi-na wasn't sure what to say. The prospect of her martial art disappearing in a generation—what it would be like to bear that kind of burden... she had never been faced with that. Saying, "Don't worry, it will be all right," sounded dismissive—she didn't know what the meaning of this art was to Talim or her village or what the effects of abandoning it would be. If it were Mi-na in that situation, she would stubbornly cling to the art and teach it in secret regardless of what she had been instructed to do, but it seemed presumptuous to urge Talim to do the same. Lacking words, Mi-na instead reached out to place her hand on Talim's and gave a squeeze.

Talim reddened and smiled shyly. "Thank you. I'm... I'm all right."

They started walking again. Night had fallen and stars were starting to come out. They still had several hours to go until the next village, if the directions they had gotten at the last village were correct, and if they hadn't gotten lost along the way. She sorely hoped they would find a village soon or otherwise they'd have to camp outside and Mi-na wasn't relishing the idea of that.

As they walked, Mi-na passed the time telling anecdotes from her previous travels through Europe. She hadn't been much older than Talim when she had run away from home the first time seeking Soul Edge. Her motives had been much more... self-absorbed than Talim's were, but nevertheless, she couldn't help but feel some affinity with the younger girl seeing the wider world for the first time and meeting all sorts of people along the way.

Talim seemed particularly curious about what it had been like for Mi-na when her first few adventures had ended and she had returned to Jirisan to a normal life again.

"Feeling homesick?" Mi-na asked.

"A little," Talim admitted. Her village was close-knit, and she had always been surrounded and supported by her family. Though she had always been a self-reliant sort of person and had quickly adapted to the very different lands she had passed through and people she had encountered, it still felt odd to be so far away from them. "I miss the sound of their voices. It's been a long time."

"What are your parents like? Did they ever try to arrange a marriage for you?"

"No," Talim said, her eyebrows rising a bit in surprise. "That would be a bit early, wouldn't it?"

"Tell that to my father," Mi-na said, rolling her eyes. "He was always badgering me about that. I can't say I missed being away from my hometown all that much."

At the top of the next hill, little lights belonging to the next village flickered in the darkness. "Finally!" Mi-na cried. "I'm so-o-o tired of walking I just want to collapse in a bed and sleep till noon. How are you doing, Talim?"

The girl seemed a bit tired but all in all, she had borne the long trek well.

Within an hour they had arrived in town, found the inn, and procured a room for themselves. Mi-na flopped down on the straw mattress as promised. Before falling asleep, though, she had enough energy to murmur, "So let's see... You're athletic, good at fighting, have spiritual purifying powers, and you're sweet as an angel. Is there anything you can't do?"

Talim demurred. "Ah, well, there are a lot of things I can't really do well. I'm still working on my cooking—I'm not very good..."

Mi-na waved her hand dismissively. "I've had your cooking—it's fine. But you're right, you do have weaknesses. One, getting mad at people—you're really bad at that, even when they really deserve it. And two, taking compliments gracefully."

Talim blushed.

"See what I mean? You're adorable, Talim!"

Talim's face reddened further. She averted her eyes and said in a quiet voice, "A-and you're... you're really pretty, Mi-na."

Mi-na blinked. "Pretty, huh?" It was unusual to hear someone call her pretty—she was too much of a tomboy, always getting into tussles, for her to really come off that way. The only people who had used _pretty_ to refer to her were undoubtedly trying to flatter and cozy up to her. But Talim wasn't that type. Mi-na grinned a wide, sleepy smile. "Thanks," she said before drifting off to sleep.

Mi-na supposed this day would come eventually. An innkeep said a red-haired, foreign swordsman had passed through the town and ended up heading southwest, in the direction of the city of Strasbourg. It was not much to go on, but she had to follow up on it. Meanwhile, however, Talim sensed a strong evil energy from the north. Normally, Yun-seong seemed to go in the direction of evil energy, but at last their paths had diverged.

"I guess this is where we part," Mi-na said. "I hope you find Soul Edge and can purify it before it does any more damage."

For a moment, Talim's face was so solemn that the worry struck Mi-na that this might be the last time she might see Talim. After all, the girl's mission put her close to danger and the idea of purifying a great evil like Soul Edge... most people would not think it could be done, let alone volunteer to be the one to try. Mi-na couldn't imagine how much of a risk Talim would be taking if she were to find the sword. Between the mission that had brought the girl from her isolated village and the knowledge that she was the last student of the wind dance, it seemed like the girl bore the weight of the world on her shoulders. Instinctively, Mi-na wrapped Talim tight in her arms.

"We'll meet again, I know it. If not in Europe, then I'll come to your village and we'll get to spar for real."

"...You're right. I look forward to it." Then, with a motion as swift and gentle as a breeze, Talim laid a kiss on Mi-na's cheek. With a quick, "Good luck, Mi-na," she was gone, had traveled halfway down a town street in the blink of an eye.

Stunned, Mi-na watched her go until she was out of sight, at which point Mi-na shook herself from her reverie and continued on her own way to track down Yun-seong. Every time she had run away from home, it seemed she had an encounter that changed her—that upended her life in some way. But this was new, this feeling... Maybe it was just worry about Talim's safety, but it seemed there was something else. As she traveled, Mi-na frequently found her thoughts were with Talim, wondering where she was now, how close she was to her goal; she felt an impatient desire to fulfill her promise to Talim, to see her again. Somehow she knew she wouldn't feel at peace until she did.

It was strange, this feeling, as if, when Talim had left, she had taken a part of Mi-na's heart with her.


End file.
